Information bulletin Malaysia: Seasonal Flooding Information bulletin n° 3 GLIDE n° FL-2017-000002-MYS Date of Issue: 2 February 2017 Date of Disaster: 23 January 2017 Host National Society: Point of Contact: Malaysia Red Crescent (MRC) Dato Sayed Abdul Rahman, Secretary General This bulletin is being issued for information only, and reflects the current situation and details available at this time. The Malaysian Red Crescent, with support of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, will determine whether external support is required based on assessments. <click here to view contact details> The situation Heavy rains continue in Malaysia since the seasonal rains began to make its mark in the northern states of the western peninsula from the end of December 2016. Two information bulletins on this developing situation had been issued earlier: on 5 January 2017 (IB n°1) and 17 January 2017 (IB n° 2). Significantly heavy rains from 23 January 2017 have caused flooding in seven states in Peninsular Malaysia, namely, Johor, Kelantan, Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, Malacca, and Selangor, and Sabah in East Malaysia. The floods have temporarily displaced about 12,000 families across the country. The situation following the Chinese New Year weekend (28-29 January) saw water receding in several affected districts and families are returning to their homes. At least 80 per cent of the evacuees in the affected areas have returned home in all affected states. Table 1: Number of families and people at evacuation centres as of 1 February 2017 States Total Number of Families Total Number of People Kelantan 21 105 Terengganu 30 93 Perak 181 576 Pahang 891 3,210 Johor 384 1,390 Sabah 0 0 Selangor 11 62 Source: Portal Bencana, National Disaster Management Authority (NADMA) Nevertheless, the Malaysian Meteorological Department METS services is forecasting more rains in Peninsular Malaysia in the second week of February. Despite the fact that water levels in the flooded areas have receded, the condition of major rivers in Pahang, Kelantan, Johor and Perak is still at critical level which could cause another flooding with more rain. The government authorities, in particular the National Agency for Disaster Administration (NADMA) has taken precautionary efforts to ensure that response teams are ready for the second cycle of flooding in these areas. Action by the authorities The National Agency for Disaster Administration (NADMA), the army, the police and other local government agencies have conducted evacuations, established emergency shelters, operationalized evacuation centres 1 | P a g e and continue to provide relief assistance to affected families. The authorities have deployed the Special Malaysia Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) in the affected areas to carry out search and rescue operations in highly inundated areas. Furthermore, the relevant District Offices are coordinating all humanitarian activities at district level working closely with NADMA, the civil defence, the police and the armed forces in these affected areas. In accordance with the Policy and Mechanism of National Disaster Management and Relief set out by the National Security Council (known as Directive No. 20), the District Offices are responsible in evacuating the flood victims to evacuation centres while other agencies and voluntary bodies, including the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, have roles defined in relief and recovery efforts. Red Cross and Red Crescent action The District Offices and NADMA, as well as the Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) and local civil society organizations such as Mercy Malaysia have responded to the situation, carrying out rescue operations and providing food, water, blankets, clothes, medical care and other necessities to those affected. MRC participates in district coordination meetings and is given the task of providing hygiene kits and hot meals to evacuees at the evacuation centres. Populations have been evacuated to higher ground and to temporary sites, mostly in schools and district community halls. Based on the joint assessment carried out by MRC and IFRC in Johor last week, two areas that are currently lacking at the evacuation centres visited are psychosocial services (PSS) and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support. The situation could be prevalent as well in other evacuation centres. MRC is currently working with the district offices to assume responsibilities to cover recovery efforts in the affected areas. However, with the large coverage area centred in Pahang and Johor, MRC will work closely with other relief agencies to ensure coordinated response as well as factoring specific thematic areas of intervention to meet the needs of affected population. Staff and volunteers of MRC Kelantan Branch handing out hygiene kits to communities in Tumpat, Kelantan. Photo: Malaysian Red Crescent MRC volunteers in branches throughout the affected areas have been active since the beginning of the disaster. When the early warnings were received, volunteers were mobilized and prepared to respond. So far, 150 Red Cross volunteers have been directly involved in the immediate response. The local national disaster response team (NDRT) members were mobilized as well as emergency community volunteers. This included assisting the evacuation of affected families to temporary sites and higher ground, in conjunction with local authorities and NADMA. 2 | P a g e The MRC has released 3,000 hygiene kits from preposition stocks to support the response all over Malaysia. Over 3,000 families have received different non-food items (NFI) through distributions in the flood affected areas. NFIs distributed include hygiene kits and blankets. However, the impact of the additional rains demands a greater response beyond the financial capacity of MRC, who are currently working to scale up the response plan including the distribution of hygiene kits and the deployment of NDRT in the affected areas. MRC have completely depleted their hygiene kit stocks and will need support in replenishing the hygiene kit stock levels to ensure response preparedness for more imminent flooding or other disasters. One of the key concerns highlighted by the district offices in the affected areas is the lack of post flooding recovery efforts especially when the evacuees have returned home. MRC is currently coordinating with the NHQ to launch efforts to intervene in recovery efforts. The IFRC Asia Pacific regional office (APRO) in Kuala Lumpur is monitoring the situation closely and is on standby for further emergency response support. Currently APRO is supporting MRC in joint assessment activities and unmanned aerial vehicle mapping of flood areas. Based on the available information that points toward significant humanitarian needs and with further information through assessments when safety conditions allow, the IFRC is working closely with MRC to determine the appropriate scaled-up response and support from the IFRC Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF). Contact information For further information specifically related to this operation please contact: Malaysian Red Crescent Society o Dato Sayed Abdul Rahman, secretary general; phone: +6012 211 8999 [email protected] o Dr. Selvajothi, chairman of disaster management; phone: +6012 234 0310 [email protected] IFRC, Asia Pacific regional office, Kuala Lumpur (phone: +603 9207 5700) o Martin Faller, deputy director, [email protected] o Nelson Castano, head of disaster and crisis prevention, response and recovery (DCPRR) unit, [email protected] o Necephor Mghendi, operations coordinator, phone: +60 122 246 796, [email protected] o Vinod Muniandy, project coordinator, phone: +6012 280 1412, [email protected] o Peter Ophoff, head of planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting (PMER), [email protected] o Diana Ongiti, relationship manager, [email protected] How we work All IFRC assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO’s) in Disaster Relief and the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (Sphere) in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. The IFRC’s vision is to inspire, encourage, facilitate and promote at all times all forms of humanitarian activities by National Societies, with a view to preventing and alleviating human suffering, and thereby contributing to the maintenance and promotion of human dignity and peace in the world. 3 | P a g e .